THE imminent departure of Newcastle Jets coach Carl Robinson after less than a season in the job should be a shock, but in many ways it is not.
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For much of their existence, the Jets have attracted almost as much attention for their ownership problems, and the attendant financial difficulties this involves, as they have for their exploits on the field.
The region's premier sporting franchise, the Newcastle Knights, was also in troubled waters until its ownership was secured, and its finances stabilised, by the Wests Group.
But even after their "centre of excellence" is built at Broadmeadow - the first proper headquarters the Knights will have had - the club will still be fighting an uphill battle, as will the Jets, regardless of who owns them.
That's because teams from Newcastle, and other regional centres, will generally always struggle to achieve the same level of sponsorship and other income - including third-party payments to players - that the richer, capital city clubs can almost take for granted.
Both codes run strictly administered salary caps, but the ability to earn extra income on top of the cap must be an attraction, to some degree or other.
In one regard, this suits the Hunter mentality: the idea that we are the underdog battling the odds, the working-class region always fighting to make itself heard over the din from that Babylon to our south.
But it's a hard way to run a successful sporting team, as the lean record of both clubs, since the 1997 and 2001 premierships of the Knights, and the 2008 victory of the Jets, makes clear.
It's also a cause for regret that runs well beyond the sports themselves, because there's a good argument to make that it was the successes of the Newcastle Knights during the Andrew Johns era - along with the 1999 closure of the BHP steelworks - that gave the region a new place in the national consciousness.
This new prominence may well have helped attract Jets Chinese owner Martin Lee to the club.
Unfortunately, however, his well-publicised financial problems have coincided with the unprecedented disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Jets' 2021 A-League season is in profound disarray before it has even started.
And that's a best-case scenario.
Only the Jets senior management, and perhaps Football Federation Australia, know the real situation.
Bottom line? The Jets must survive.
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